Waterlogged
by vifetoile89
Summary: Twilight Princess/Majora's Mask. When Zora's Domain thaws out, Link has an unexpected flashback to a time long ago and far away...


Waterlogged

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Legend of Zelda.

The waters of the Zora River, under a Twilit sky, were rising fast. They churned and spun and rose and fell in a dizzying, pattern-less motion, and Link – Link was caught up in them. In his wolf form, he did his best to keep his head above water, but eddies and swirls overwhelmed him. He howled out to Midna for help.

"I'm helping you all I can!" she called back, clutching tightly to him. "But it's hard! Stop panicking so much and you won't _– Link! Look out_!"

Link turned around to see what she meant, but a moment too late: a rock came looming into his vision, then a sharp _crack_ filled his head, and he was lost in the current, and fallen into darkness…

… Darkness was closed over his head, but he was not lost, he knew exactly where he was. He was underwater, and looking for something. But what? He couldn't exactly remember. And what was with the water? It was murky, and cool, but not cold. And… it was salty? How did that happen? A skull-shaped fish leered out at him, and he swung a punch at it, breaking it into pieces.

Link stopped short and inspected his arm. It wasn't a wolf's foreleg, but not a human arm, either – it was covered in scales, and there was a fin growing out of it – for that matter, he didn't seem to need to breathe…

No time for that. _No time_, Link heard himself think. Must find them. Must find them.

What are they?

Link didn't have time to ask that. He saw a small glow at the end of a deep tunnel. Swimming into the tunnel, he was just reaching for the small bauble at the end when –

-- the earth shook. He felt the vibrations in his bones. '_Oh, shit_,' he thought, '_It's later than I thought it was… I have to go up!_'

He gently took the bauble – and paused, for a moment, to look at it. Inside was a small, shivering form, what looked like a tiny fish, with a spine, an eye, and a heart whose every beat sent a tremor through the bauble –

And then Link popped the bauble into a bottle at his side, and pushing off of the floor of the tunnel, sped towards the exit. Another push, this time on the outer wall of the cave, and he was rocketing up to the surface.

Don't let it be too late. There isn't much time.

He had not realized how deep in the ocean he was. The top of the water, the dark night above him, never seemed to get any closer, no matter how he kicked. He put all of his energy into his stroke and almost screamed with frustration.

He felt another tremor run through the water, another earthquake. There was hardly any time left.

When he broke the surface – at last, at last – then he had to turn and swim with the rest of his strength to the laboratory that was by the shore, perched like a teapot on the water. As he clambered onto the platform, he saw a flash of light from the mainland.

Looking up, he saw, far-off, a tower. Bursts of sparks, shatterings of light came from around the tower, as if in defiance of the great behemoth of rock that stared down the tower.

'_They've started the fireworks_,' Link thought. '_Oh no, oh no._ _I must…_'

He put the bottle of eggs – that's what the baubles were, eggs – on the platform, and pulled out an ocarina. Only it wasn't an ocarina, it was a huge skeleton of a fish. Link held the skeleton in his arms as a guitar, and tried to relax.

What is the first note of the song?

The song. The important song. Link's breathing became shallower.

Another firework shot up, exploded, died.

In a panic, Link's fingers trembled up and down the bones of the fish, trying to find the first note, just the first note of the song…

Too high, too high, closer, closer – that was it! That was the note! Link strummed the bone again –

And it was too late. A noise filled the air, a noise like the ear-ringing silence of a hollow urn, or the intense low note on a double bass. The moon, with its insane grin, was surrounded by a red glow as it began to fall on the tower. A mighty wind blasted across the land, and struck Link, who braced himself against the blow, still holding on to the guitar.

Another wind came, this one carrying with it heat, unbearable heat. The bones of the guitar stiffened, dried, cracked, became useless. Link's skin, his covering of scales, dried too, and began to flake, and he ached with thirst –

Then a third wind came, more powerful, fierier than the last. Now Link fell backwards, into the ocean, only to find that the ocean was boiling away, recoiling from the heat. Link was covered in pain and heat and dryness, and as he looked at the sky – turning flame red – he remembered the eggs, defenseless and alone on the platform, in the apocalyptic heat.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to see anything more.

The pain seemed to evaporate. Link could not feel his body, his scaly skin, nor his broken guitar. He seemed to be floating. Opening his eyes, he saw a man standing before him, a man with a wide face, red hair, and an immovable, untouchable smile.

The man said, almost gently, almost distantly, "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Link opened his eyes. In front of him, he saw a wide face with red hair before him, a face with a mocking, but not unkind smile before him.

"You certainly made that trip down here easier for _me_. I hope you're grateful for my help once you were considerate enough to knock yourself out. Wake up already!"

Link stood up in the shallow water, on wobbly legs. He shook himself off, looking around him.

"Lake Hylia, I'm glad to say, has filled up nicely. And look where we are! Right in front of the spirit's spring! Talk about lucky… Why are you looking at me like that?"

Link turned his head away, and didn't say anything. Midna thought of asking if everything was all right – that _had_ been a nasty crack to the head – but decided against it. He was up and walking, nothing to worry about, right?

Right.

"Honestly, you look like you've seen a ghost, or something," she commented.

Link shook himself off as Midna hopped onto his back again. He would think about that dream later… when he had some time.


End file.
